Nicholas Graveshire
Work in progress. History Childhood Nicholas Brandt is the second child of Annette and Enoch Graveshire, a humble owner of a bookstore in the middle of the capital. Born approximately ten minutes after his sister Lillian; as well as into a middle-class family, he was unexpected, and came as a surprise to his mother. The midwife exclaimed that she was not quite through with the labor. Enoch, his father, looked perceived Nicholas to be an omen, that perhaps the first child would not be the one to be the who would pride to the humble name of Graveshire; and so he deduced that his son was not merely an accident. With this, however, he put great stresses upon his second child. Early Years Nicholas spent most of his time in school, and if not there, in his father’s store. He read practically anything he could get his hands on. If he did not know a word, he would look it up. If something struck him as interesting, he’d delve back into the text a year later to revisit and relearn. He took a particular interest in medicine, magic, and psychology and developed a habit of picking out books from those schools first. He was practically glued to his twin sister, Lillian. It was evident that she was his only friend, and he had no interest in learning or meeting other people. He would greet people at his father’s store, but made no effort to communicate in greater depth. He would smile, look at them with his icy eyes, and then turn back to the book he was absorbed in. He had one childhood friend: Lukas Ashcroft, which they would both get into trouble in the city streets, near Enoch’s store. They would return to the Graveshire residence before nightfall, and sneak up into Nicholas’ room to avoid being bombarded by Lillian’s circle of friends. He was never one for people, and it is clear that the trait has carried into adulthood. Adulthood 'Military Career during the Northgate Rebellion' Joining the military turned out to not be an easy task, but Nicholas was strong, and he trained hard to become a good soldier. He saw a great amount of action on the battlefield, and earned a name for himself in the heat of battle, and the name ‘Graveshire’ resonated throughout barracks and camps of both loyalists and rebels. He was known to be brutal in battle, and would often walk on the field afterwards, find any rebel soldiers that remained, and he would finish them off, sometimes slowly, sometimes quick with mercy. He made sure that there were not many wounded left on the field; only dead. His weak appearance caused by wearing his half-moon spectacles (he needed for reading) would mislead friend and foe alike. They came to fear the icy blaze in his eyes behind the glasses. For his work, he was quietly elevated to Sergeant. He debated becoming a Royal Guard to the King, as he was certainly eligible to. During the war, he communicated with his beloved Lydia and family through letter, and sometimes in person when he was on leave. He never took a break longer than three days, however. He did not want to miss anything while he was gone. 'After the Rebellion' Now in his mid 20s, Nicholas found it odd to be done with fighting. He spent his time and energy with the reconstruction of Gilneas, mostly of what was damaged in the capital. He returned to his family and Lydia often, and after ten years of being together, he proposed to Lydia, against the wishes of her controlling father. 'The Worgen Incursion' The couple would never be wed. Nicholas heard of the ‘worgen’ in the Blackwald, but he never saw one until they attacked Gilneas City. He was returning home from his father’s store when they attack. They jumped down from clamouring on the roofs of the city, and pinned him. There is a difference between bites meant to change, and bites meant to kill, and he was mauled viciously by a pack of worgen. They bit and tore at his flesh and muscles, and when they were finished tossing him around like a rag doll, they left him there in a pool of his blood. He, against all odds, lived. His body is marred and indented by gnarled bites and claw marks from this incident. He blacked out, and was only awakened by the painful transformation into a worgen. He looked down at his hands and feet and body and realized that he had become one of the terrible beasts. Much of the city was evacuated when he woke up. He searched everywhere for his fiance, sister, and parents. He did not find them, however. He ran out of the city, and was drawn towards the Blackwald, to Tal’doren, where he met the kaldorei. And they performed the ancient ritual on him. 'The Forsaken Invasion ' Once he got used to his new body, which he learned to hate, he took up arms and joined with a group of refugees to fight back against the Forsaken, and under the banner of Prince Liam. He had never seen the Forsaken. He had heard of the Scourge, but he learned to hate the name ‘Sylvanas, the Banshee Queen’. When he was asked to evacuate GIlneas, he was reluctant. But he boarded the ships and sailed to Darnassus. 'Career in Ashenvale' Harboring a deep appreciation for the kaldorei after they performed the ritual on him to retain his humanity, Nicholas went straight to Ashenvale to fight with the sentinels to push back the orcs from the forest. It was during this time he became assimilated in the kaldorei culture, and learned to speak fluent Darnassian. Nicholas became fond of the kaldorei lands, but it would wane compared to his love for his homeland. After a few years of serving in Kalimdor, he sailed for Stormwind. 'The Wolves of the Gray Rose' During Nicholas’ stay in Stormwind, he met a Gilnean worgen named Huttser Swope. Nicholas, after several encounters with the man, was soon invited to join his order: The Wolves of the Gray Rose. Now, Nicholas had seen the order in action, but had never thought of working with them. He decided to give it a shot, and became an oathsworn. The order was based out of the Stormwind Keep gardens, and Nicholas stayed in Lakeshire, opting to spend little time in the city. The oathsworn worked to prove his loyalty to the order, and was promoted to a Knight-Crusader, one of the few in the order. He swore to protect the Gray Rose and Lord Rhazar with all the strength and skill he had. However, he differed from many of the other worgen, for he prefered his human form, and it was often brought into question, as one of the tenants of the oath was ‘embracing’ the true form. Most of the time it was brought up and then quickly dropped. After several months of serving the Gray Rose, he was deemed to be a worthy leader, and knighted. He became a Knight-Champion, and helped lead the order with Huttser Swope, something he had aspired to do in the beginning. He also became friends with the order’s kaldorei ambassador, Shan’do Galondel Fleetsong. During this time, he also tracked down and found his sister in Surwich, and the two have been inseparable ever since. During the Gray Rose period of his life, Nicholas met, courted, and married Selti Izalith, however, the marriage would come into jeopardy soon after due to turning events no one expected would happen. He, along with Swope, William Sherton, Galondel Fleetsong, and other individuals, left the cause, and went to re-establish a different, neutral order. The Nordrassil Accord Nicholas, once again, went to Kalimdor to serve as a Captain of the Nordrassil Accord under Shan’do Galondel Fleetsong, and his General, William Sherton. The Accord was a neutral organization focused on restoring Hyjal. Nicholas went along with his brothers, feeling that perhaps it just was not time to take up restoring Gilneas. This came at a price, however. It strained his relationship with his wife, who was a warlock. The marriage shattered, and Nicholas moved to Darnassus, taking up the mantle of bachelor once more. His wife was said to live on her own as a hermit. This had a great affect on the Captain, as it was his first relationship since leaving Gilneas the first time. He began making rash decisions, and it cost an entire unit of the Accord their lives. Captain Graveshire pursued an enemy of the Nordrassil Accord deemed incredibly dangerous. He took a unit to go to Feralas to hunt the warlock, Jaa’rik, down after weeks of tracking him. The task proved to be more difficult than originally thought, for the spring rains swooped in just in time. It was impossible to see, smell, or hear anything over the heavy torrential downpour. The warlock took advantage over this and slayed most of the unit. Nicholas was left on his own for a week with no supplies. He left a trail of things leading to the Ruins of Isildin. 'Alleged Death' Captain Huttser Swope noticed that Nicholas had been gone for longer than planned, and took a second unit to Feralas, which also ended up getting wiped out as they followed Nicholas’ trail of armor. Jaa’rik confronted Swope in the main room of the ruins, nearly killing the worgen, until Nicholas intervened, was mortally wounded. A trail of blood led to a small sanctuary, where Swope found him. The two exchanged final words before the building began to collapse. Huttser managed to escape, but Nicholas was trapped inside, already thought to be dead from blood loss. The Nordrassil Accord mourned the loss of Captain Nicholas Graveshire, and then moved on with their lives, never forgetting his bravery. Yet, all was not lost. A team of bounty hunters came upon his tomb, and prematurely set off their explosives, killing all the members of the team, and dislodging some of the rocks that trapped Nicholas. This awoke the slumbering worgen, and he crawled out, his eyes burning from the light, and many of his muscles aching from atrophy. He developed a deep hatred for warlocks above all else, and went to Silithus to find Jaa’rik. He found that the warlock had already been killed, and Nicholas still contained pent up rage. He slaughtered a high count of 200 warlocks and cultists in the area, and southern Kalimdor. He tracked down and made maps of any cultist and demon holdings, and he created a hit-list; and at the very top was his former wife, Selti. The Cenarion Circle was attentive to the babbling, mad worgen, and they contacted Galondel Fleetsong after Nicholas rambled about an ‘Accord’. Galondel called a council meeting of his Captains, and his new General, Talsalrador (William Sherton was also thought to be dead at the time) to find Nicholas. By the time they reached Silithus, the Circle presented Fleetsong with the hit-list, and it dawned on them that Gilneas was the destination where they would find him. It is unclear whether Nicholas was successful in killing his ex-wife. The only thing clear is that he attempted it, and he was found afterwards in the Northgate Woods, and he was subdued by Galondel. After he was taken back to Darnassus and nursed back to health, he was reinstated as a Captain of the Nordrassil Accord. 'Rise in Power' Once Nicholas returned to the Nordrassil Accord, there was a question left regarding his position: William Sherton, the previous General of the Accord, was pronounced dead with his wife, and Nicholas was in line to become the next General, however Nicholas was also claimed dead at the time. Talsarador was the General when Nicholas returned, which led the General to step down and offer the position to its rightful owner: Nicholas Graveshire. Nicholas remained the leader of the Nordrassil Accord, and for a period of time, the acting leader of the Accord while Galondel Fleetsong went missing. Once he became General of the Nordrassil Accord, he made a trip to Stormwind to recruit, and he met Isabella Heart, who would become his second wife, and bear his first child: Alice Nicole Graveshire. The marriage soon broke off afterwards. 'The Disbanding of the Accord' The build up of the Siege of Orgrimmar left the Nordrassil Accord out in the dust. The organization was neutral, and could not get involved with the war. It was disbanded by the Darnassian Senate. Nicholas Graveshire was granted the title “Nor’serrar”, meaning ‘Blade of the Heavens’ in Darnassian, for his service to the Accord. Nicholas finally turned his attention back to Gilneas and decided that it was finally time to return. 'Establishing the Grey Hand ' The Grey Hand was a branch of the Nordrassil Accord that Nicholas decided to re-invent as re-establish in Gilneas. He was the Commander, and chose his former wife and partner, Isabella Heart, to be his second-in-command. Many of the worgen in the Accord followed him, along with the kaldorei Delanala Leafwhisper. The order occupied Stormglen and reinforced it into their base. 'Capture and Torture in the Dance of the Dead, and Assassination Attempt' In the month of October, Nicholas led a mission to go ransack and destroy Forsaken laboratories in the ruins of Pyrewood Village. The unit was ambushed, and this led to the capture of Nicholas Graveshire and several allies and members of the Grey Hand. They were dragged to the Undercity, and Nicholas was subject to horrendous torture from a deathstalker, which has changed him to this day, causing him to be paranoid and inwardly self-conscious. He was forced to run for his life in a sick game, and managed to live with the help of an alliance of orders. This event has forever changed him, making him more wary of those around him. He covers his neck to hide the evidence of the evidence that the events transpired. Months afterwards, in the early days of December, the courier Laurana Lightfaith delivered a package addressed to the knight. Nicholas opened it, and it turned out to be a bomb. It detonated, harming both Nicholas and Laurana, and inflicting them with frost fever and blood plague. With the efforts of Bishop Melchiz Tzedeck, and several Clergymen in the area of Stormglen, the pair were healed and left to recover. Enraged by the attack, Nicholas sought out his would-be assassin, and found out who had commissioned and orchestrated the attempt on his life; it was the very same Forsaken deathstalker in charge of his capture. Sir Graveshire dedicated his time and energy to becoming both a deadly enemy and a nuisance to her. 'Establishing Greymoon Isle and Entry into Druidism' Stormglen eventually was laid siege to by the Forsaken, and the Grey Hand lost their base. Lucky for the Commander, Huttser Swope and Isabella Heart planned for this, and had been preparing a base on an island to the south of Stormglen. It was named Greymoon Isle, and Nicholas signed the deed, becoming a landed knight. Around this time, Nicholas had taken an interest in druidism. He was trained and taught by his shan’do, Delanala Leafwhisper, the only kaldorei in the Grey Hand. After months of training, Sir Graveshire has become an adept Druid of the Claw, modeling himself after the bear ancients, and a skilled mender. 'Entering Nobility' Recently, Nicholas has petitioned, and received the promotion to a Baron, and Greymoon has become his barony. The streets of Greymoon rang with cheers and gleeful chants the day the courier arrived: “Long live the Grey Hand! Long live Lord Nicholas Graveshire, patriarch of his House!” Section heading Write the second section of your page here.